137. Wilson's Snipe

Date          April 7, 2004

Location     Nationwide Plaza 1, Columbus, OH

I saw him just walking about in the open, and when I approached, he flew catty-corner over to the Hyatt. So I crossed the street twice to see if I could locate him again. I didn't know what it was, but I could tell by the way it flew that it something different, not a robin or catbird or whatever.

Near the driveway of the hotel were some shrubs and small trees and other landscaping. I start skulking about. All of the sudden, he was right at my feet. He was basically hiding and being still like a rabbit, hoping I'd miss him. I got a very solid but very short look at his head pattern and positively identified it. He immediately flushed and flew off toward the arena.

This was by far one of the most exciting entries because I had to work really hard for it, without binoculars, in the city, and it was a snipe! This was a tale that no camper would ever believe. Sure -- you saw a snipe in some landscaping in downtown Columbus. Right.

As far as I knew this was a Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) in 2004 when I saw it. The North American version of the Common Snipe was a subspecies. In 2003 the subspecies was graduated up to full species Gallinago delicata. It took some time for the guidebooks to catch up. When they did, I was thoroughly confused for a while.

Cornell: Wilson's Snipe